On song: Why Gozo is the perfect destination for a singing holiday

Towards the end of our gig, I lost the plot with the alleluias. It wasn’t the words that eluded me (“Alleluia, alleluia” is hardly a challenge); I faltered over the soprano part.

Standing beside a fulsome tenor, I wavered, hit a couple of rogue notes and stopped singing – none of which mattered. The others in the top range carried the tune beautifully while I goldfished, enjoying the sound my companions were creating and marvelling at the overall achievement on a week-long singing holiday.

Outnumbering our audience by about half a dozen, our choir of 19 was giving an informal concert after Friday mass at the church of Our Lady of Mount Carmel in Xlendi (the exotic-looking X is pronounced “Sh”). This former fishing village is prettily positioned around a cliff-sided cove on the south-west coast of Gozo. In keeping with the spirit of Malta’s second island, it is now a gentle holiday destination, retaining something of a rural spirit and still with a lively local population.

Locals crowd into the church for Saturday mass, but the Friday evening service is more sparsely attended – with or without additional entertainment from a group of enthusiastic singers. Not that showtime was the point of our trip; we had come to Malta for the sheer joy of singing.

I had been looking for a learning holiday when I came across the website of Authentic Adventures. Along with cultural tours and painting holidays it offers singing trips, which sounded cheerfully intriguing. Harmony singing had long been on my bucket list. As a child I was forever bursting into song, but not having learnt to read music I was later rejected from my school choir. I more or less stopped singing from that point and had felt wistful ever since. Fast-forward decades and Authentic Adventures’ combination of song, sunshine and travel seemed ideal.

The island of Gozo is about a sixth of the size of the Isle of Wight and is in many ways its mini, Mediterranean alternative with the added benefit of guaranteed summer sunshine, azure waters and octopus on the menu.

"Engaging little Xlendi was our base for the week"Credit:
GETTY

I’d met several of my fellow tour members on the coach from the airport but it was during the brief 20-minute sea passage from Ċirkewwa, on Malta, to Gozo that we really got chatting. Many of them were repeat visitors from last year’s singing trip, I learnt, and the majority already sang in choirs led by Liz Martin, our tutor, who had flown out with us.

This was both encouraging and daunting. It was good to know that we had an inspiring teacher, but although I’d been assured that individuals would be welcome on the trip it was potentially awkward to be an outsider, even if I was one of five such newcomers. Yet over the next day or so my concerns melted away: the music Liz taught was new to everyone.

Engaging little Xlendi was our base for the week. Here we settled into San Andrea Hotel, a small and genial establishment with a glorious outlook over the cove. Our itinerary was designed so that we took in the island as we learned our music. Most mornings we would walk to a singing venue where we’d spend a couple of hours. We had no accompaniment; Liz taught by singing us our parts and getting us to repeat them – again and again (tenor, alto, soprano – her vocal range struck me as remarkable). We’d then have lunch and enjoy a swim from one of Gozo’s many coves and little beaches. Returning to the hotel we’d head to the roof terrace for drinks and another singing session before dining at a long table by the waterfront. It was such a chilled-out routine that I lost track of the days of the week, instead measuring time by the songs we learned.

"The music Liz taught was new to everyone"

On our first morning we strolled along cliffs to Xlendi’s 17th-century watchtower, one of several around the island. There we stood on the steps and listened as Liz sang us Belle Mama, a haunting melody of South African origin. We sang the tune back to her, then she got us to sing it in rounds – two parts, three then four. I was surprised at how straightforward it all was – no preamble; we simply gave voice, prompted by Liz who emanated energy and danced as she conducted.

We must have sounded reasonable even though it was our first number. Two walkers stopped to listen then shook each of us warmly by the hand.

Walking on, Liz explained how the trip follows the ethos of community choirs and the Natural Voice Network, of which she is a member. The starting point is that everyone can (and perhaps should) sing; the aim is to provide an inclusive group experience. There is no written music to follow; learning is achieved by ear. Sounds very Gareth Malone? Well not exactly. While Malone’s television programmes have become increasingly centred on competition, the aim here is to celebrate singing for all, without judgment, without vocal rivalry. You’re not trying to achieve perfection but to create, together, a stirring sound. And an uplifting experience it is too. At times I felt poignantly soulful, at others euphoric.

Performance wasn’t initially on our agenda. But when we stopped to try out the acoustics in Xlendi’s church later during that first morning, the priest smilingly appeared and insisted on booking us for a short concert on our last evening. Then we’d better learn some more songs, Liz remarked with a wry grin – we had at that juncture just the one tune. Yet as we mastered three additional pieces that day (two alleluias and a beautiful east African song of greeting) the engagement seemed increasingly peripheral; we were singing for the moment.

So we continued for the week. We sang in a 15th-century hillside chapel; in the palm-filled Villa Rundle Garden of Gozo’s small capital Victoria; at an organic farm complete with goats and peacocks; in the tiny bay of Mgarr ix-Xini, a sparkling backdrop in Angelina Jolie’s dour 2015 drama By the Sea. We walked down oleander-lined lanes, along paths fringed with wild fennel and beside fields where we watched lizards slinking into the gaps of drystone walls.

Midway through the trip we had a day off so that we could make our own discoveries. Most of the group took a boat trip around Gozo. Along with another choir member I opted to walk across the island, south to north – not a very arduous venture, given the modest size of the place. We stopped at a high point in the village of Xaghra, gazing over to the baroque domes and great fortress of Victoria. Then we made for the amazing megalithic Ggantija Temples that pre-date Stonehenge by about 1,000 years, and afterwards we zigzagged down to the pink-gold sands of Ramla Bay.

The Blue Lagoon on Comino IslandCredit:
GETTY

As a group we took in other, more contemporary culture. One evening after supper we headed over to neighbouring Fontana to join its annual fiesta. At 10.30pm the streets were buzzing with life, little girls in flouncy frocks, their mothers (even grandmothers) in cocktail dresses and killer heels. Fontana’s church was the centrepiece, decked out in light bulbs. A statue of Christ was borne aloft on a plinth and two bands played somewhat pointlessly, their music drowned by the deafening clanging of great church bells.

Another night we had an evening out with a local musical group. After a couple of traditional ditties about Gozo, they broke into Abba, The Beatles and more. We all danced, we all sang. We belted out the chorus of Delilah while two Gozitan couples elegantly waltzed through the melee.

On our final morning, we sang over a great panorama. Our setting was the terrace of Xerri Il Bukkett restaurant at Qala, which looks down onto a dance of boats around Comino island and Malta’s astonishing Blue Lagoon. As we ran through the repertoire for our Xlendi church concert, I became lost in another world, mesmerised by the view. No doubt that’s why my alleluias went amiss later in the evening.

The essentials

Harriet O’Brien travelled with Authentic Adventures (01453 823328; authenticadventures.co.uk) which offers a seven-day singing holiday in Gozo from £1,600 per person. The price includes flights from Heathrow to Valletta and all transport in Malta, all meals (with wine) except for a day kept free so that group members can explore independently, all voice coaching and some sightseeing entrance charges. The next departure is currently being scheduled and is likely to take place in September 2018.